Though various options exist for providing general environmental lighting, few solutions exist that also ensure adequate illumination for egress during emergency situations. The requirements for such emergency lighting are specified by various standards, such as UL924 standard entitled “Standard for Safety of Emergency Lighting and Power Equipment.” Emergency lighting equipment is intended to automatically supply illumination, electrical power, or both to critical areas and equipment in the event of failure of the normal supply, in accordance with applicable standards, such as Article 700 or 701 of the National Electrical Code (National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70), the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101), the Fire Code (NFPA 1), the International Building Code (IBC), and the International Fire Code (IFC).
In a configuration using network infrastructure to provide power to luminaires for environmental lighting, such as Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), the network switch provides the power to a luminaire based on an on-going negotiation with the luminaire via the network. Thus, in order for the network switch to provide power to the luminaire, the network must remain operational in order for the negotiation to occur. Maintaining the network relies, in part, upon a processor and firmware executing in the network switch. However, certifying that network devices comply with emergency lighting standards, such as UL924, when such devices rely upon software components can be difficult. What is needed are network devices that can provide emergency lighting, but that do not rely upon software-driven components to provide this capability.